Squash-racket court and the like



Feb. 1, 193s. H LT 2,107,141

, SQUASH RACKET. COURT AND THE LIKE Filed Nov. 25, 1.936

' IN VENTOR= GEORGE HERBERT COLT ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. I, 19 38 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE Application November 25, 1936, Serial No. 112,627

In Great Britain December 2, 1935 7 Claims.

invention relates to squash-racket courts and the like.

. I-Iitherto,.the walls of courts such as squashracket courts, racketcourts, fives courts and .5 the like have been constructed of an opaquematerial such for example as bricks and plaster or woodand it has onlybeen possible for a limited number of spectators to view the playtherein from a stand, or gallery located at the upper part of one ormore of the walls and disposed outside the playing area. Further, inaddition to this disadvantage, the view of the play thus obtained hasnot been entirely satisfactory.

It is the chief object of the invention to provide an improvedconstruction whereby a large number of spectators may be enabled to viewthe play and a better-view thereof may be obtained, while at the sametime the playing surfaces of the Walls are not materially changed.

According to the invention one or more of the bounding walls of a courtof the kind above referred to are constructed wholly or in part of oneor more transparent or substantially transparent panels so formed thatduring play they appear opaque to players Within the court but .allowspectators outside said court to view the play. The transparent panelsmay, for example, include one or more sheets of glass, unbreakable orsafety glass, celluloid or any other suitable transparent material andpreferably one or both faces of such layers are treated in a manner, andfor the purpose hereinafter described. Further, a screen of net orothersuitable material is preferably disposed on the outer face of thetransparent layers, said screen being'retained in position in anydesired manner.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood andreadilycarried into effect the same will now be more fully describedwith reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing in which:- v

I Figure 1 is a perspective view of a panel, one portion being brokenaway to show the formation thereof. 7

Figure 2 shows one method of mounting the panels in position.

Figure 3 shows a portion-of a court constructed in accordance with theinvention.

The transparent panels employed in connection with the construction of acourt according to the invention may, for example, comprise one or moresheets of glass, unbreakable or safety ,glass, celluloid or similarsubstances, or combinations thereof.

v Referring to Figural which shows one form of 7 panel adapted to beemployed in the construction 'of a court according to the invention It]denotes a sheet of glass or other transparent material which in theembodiment illustrated is roughened or otherwise treated on the surface5 I i, for example in the manner indicated. In this example the surfaceof the sheet I0 is provided with a plurality of frosted areas [2 whichmay, for example, be of one millimetre in diameter and so spaced thatthere will be, for example, 10 six or seven thereof to the inch. Asindicated in the figure the areas 12 may bearranged in rows in staggeredrelationship or in any other suitable manner. In certain cases two ormore layers of glass or other transparent substance 15 may be employedin place of the single sheet l0, one or both surfaces of each layerbeing roughened if desired. It is not essential that the rougheningshould be effected in the patterned manner indicated above, since anyother method of evenly distributed obscuration may be employed whichwill attain the end in View. The surface is in fact roughened or treatedin such away .as to provide a certain degree of obscuration or opacityand to ensure that-the material will only bepartially transparent.Further the surface is roughened to abolish or reduce disturbingreflections from the surface of the panel, whilst at the same timeproviding a surface which will be evenly illuminated by any suitablelight source. The roughening also produces a surface which is similar orsubstantially similar, having regard to its action on the ball while inplay,to the surfaces of the walls hitherto employed or the surfaces ofthose walls or parts thereof which are not composed of transparentpanels. In order to ensure that the panels when in position will appearrelatively opaque to players within .the court a screen l3, Figure 1, isprovided on the outer surface of .sheet ID. The screen l3 may comprisewhite or coloured net or other suitable material of the type indicatedin the figure which may be secured in position in the manner shown bymeans. of ,an additional .sheet 14 of glass or other transparentmaterial which is adapted to maintain said net or the like in afiat'condition and to prevent it from becoming dirty. 'In certain casesthe sheet l4 may be dispensed with and the screen may be so suspendedthat it will hangv loosely adjacent the outer face of the panel 'orpanels. The size of the mesh may be varied as desired, but preferablyitshould .be in the region of 25 30 to the inch. Instead ofemploying netor thelike as. above described, it may be feasible to employ sheets ofperforated metal suitably coloured on both surfaces. Further, colouredtransparent material of the celluloid type, or tinted glass, may be usedin place of, or in addition to the net or perforated metal, or ifdesired in certain cases latticed screens or shutters in the form oflouvres may be employed. It may be feasible also in certain cases todispense with the roughening of the surfaces of the panel and to employonly the layer of net or its equivalenton the outer face.

A portion of one form of court is shown diagrammatically in Figure 3 andin this construction the entire walls I5 are formed by the panels abovedescribed. In certain cases, for example in a squash-racket court, afourth wall is provided in which a door is located to allow access tothe court and if desired this fourth wall and the door may beconstructed wholly or in part of I tersunk in the manner shown to lieflush with the playing surface of the panels. The bolts pass throughapertures in the limbs of the T shaped girders and are secured by nutsIS. The T shaped girders may, if necessary, be supported by suitableexternally disposed struts or the like indicated by I! to ensure thatthe wall so constructed will withstand the strain to which it issubjected during play. If desired, the T shaped girders may be dispensedwith and the panels supported on channelled girders and in such a casethe panels may be secured at each corner by a countersunk bolt such as3, the arrangement being such that one bolt will serve to secure thecontacting corners of four panels, the portions of the panels adjacentthe corners being clamped between each bolt head and its respectivegirder.

The panels may, however, be secured in other ways such as contactbevelling but the whole construction should be such that the innersurfaces of the panels will be flush with each other to produce an evenplaying surface, the girders and the supporting frames being so disposedthat they will be outside the court when completed. If desired, insteadof forming all of the walls of transparent material in the manner abovedescribed one or more of said walls may be constructed wholly or in partinthe manner hitherto employed, for example of bricks and plaster orwood, one or more apertures or the like being provided therein, ifdesired, in which a transparent panel or panels may be mounted in themanner above described or in any other suitable manner. In those caseswhere the panels are mounted in apertures in opaque walls, they may besecured in position in any suitable manner so as to lie flush with theplaying surface of the wall in which they are mounted. The wholeconstruction whether composed wholly or partially .of transparent panelsmay be strengthened in known manner by the provision of suitabletie-beams, transverse struts and the like (not shown) at or adjacent theupper part of the walls, said beams or struts being so constructed andarranged as to lie outside the normal trajectory of the ball when inplay. Further, the beams, struts, ,or the like, may be suitably colouredto match the interior of the court.

When a court constructed in accordance with the invention is in use theinterior thereof should be well lighted while the exterior should beless well lighted so that the spectators may follow the play from theexterior of the court and the players will not be hindered by theirpresence. Any suitable lighting may be employed but preferably the lightshould be as white as possible when the game is played with darkcoloured balls in a court having white walls. To this end, the lightemployed may be screened through suitable filters such as frosted glass,muslin, net, gauze or like materials, in order to diffuse the light andat the same time to whiten it to ensure that any wall or walls or partsthereof which consist of the panels will resemble in whiteness as nearlyas possible any other wall or walls or parts thereof which areconstructed of opaque materials. Similarly, when the game is played in acourt having dark walls, the source of illumination may be colourscreened so that the light reflected from the wall or walls or from anypart thereof may be dark in colour. In all cases it is desirable todirect the major portion of the light vertically downwards into thecourt so as to escape a direct glare on the spectators. In certain casesit may be desirable to provide blinds or the like formed of a suitableopaque material on the outer faces of the walls or parts thereof whichare constructed of, or include the transparent panels, said blinds beingadapted to act as screens when the exterior of the court is brightlyilluminated so that the players may continue their game without beingaffected by the brilliance of the exterior light. Further, any suitableheating system may be disposed adjacent the walls of the court, saidsystem being, for example, thermostatically or otherwise controlled andadapted to maintain the temperature of the air surrounding and insidethe said court at such a level that sweating of the interior surfaces ofthe walls will be prevented.

As' above indicated, the invention is not limited in its application tosquash-racket courts since it may equally well be applied to racketcourts, fives courts, or any other games court or the like which isnormally bounded by walls of an opaque material. i

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis:

1. A games court comprising a plurality of upstanding walls, one of thesurfaces of each of which serves as a'playing surface, a' plurality oftrainsparent panels constituting at least a part of at least one of saidwalls, eachof said panels having a plurality of opaque zones distributedover its playing surface and a mesh screen disposed adjacent the othersurface of the panels.

2. A games court comprising a plurality of upstanding walls one of' thesurfaces of each of which serves as a playing surface, a plurality oftransparent panels constituting at least a part of at least one of saidwalls each of said panels having a plurality of opaque zones distributedover .its playing surface, said zones being arranged in rows and therows staggered with respect to each other, a mesh screen disposedadjacent the other surface of the panels and a further layer oftransparent material over the outer surface of said screen to retain thesame in position.

3. A games court as'in claim 2 in which the further layer comprises alayer of coloured transparent material.

4. A games court comprising a plurality of upstanding walls, one of thesurfaces of each of which serves as a playing surface, at least onetransparent panel in at least one of said walls and. flush with theplaying surface thereof said panel having a plurality of opaque zonesdistributed over its playing surface, a mesh screen disposed adjacentthe other surface of the panel and an adjustable opaque blind disposedon the outer side of said screen.

5. A games court comprising a plurality of upstanding walls, one of thesurfaces of each of which serves as a playing surface, a plurality oftransparent panels constituting at least one of said walls, each of saidpanels having a plurality of opaque zones distributed over its playingsurface, a mesh screen disposed adjacent the other surface of the panelsand a supporting framework for said panels disposed on the outer sidethereof.

6. A games court as in claim 5, wherein the framework comprises girdersof T shape in cross section and the panels are secured. thereto at aplurality of points adjacent their edges.

7. A games court as in claim 5, in which the framework is of channelledform, the panels being secured thereto at each corner, the arrangementbeing such that one bolt or the like would serve to secure as many asfour abutting corners.

' GEORGE HERBERT COLT.

